What have Republicans done recently?
- They tried to extort Ukraine in return for military aid.
- They precipitated anti-mask/vaccine fervor, resulting in tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths.
- They defend the 1/6 insurrection as just an ordinary protest¹ and continue to support Trump's big lie about Democrats stealing the vote.
- They support efforts to allow red state legislatures to overturn the popular presidential vote.
- They actively appeal to white fear of teaching about Black history in schools.
- They have cut taxes on millionaires while quietly raising them on the middle class via tariffs.
I'm sure I'm missing a few important items. Maybe even some where Republicans arguably did some good! But honestly, just take a look at this list and ask yourself what good the Republican Party is these days. They stopped President Biden from passing a bunch of social spending, which is good from their point of view, but they could easily have done that even if they had stayed sane and constructive.
Unfortunately, they obviously consider insanity imperative to their electoral fortunes, so I imagine we can look forward to more of the same. What is the point of even having them around anymore?
¹They didn't at first, but they nearly unanimously do now.
To add to Kevin's list:
• Opposes safe abortions for the poor
• Supports climate catastrophe and global resource wars
• Vilifies LGBTQ Americans
• Supports family separation and caging of children for
undocumented migrants.
Shame.
Those are excellent, and makes my attempted contribution look sad.
* Encourages disrespect for women and other minorities.
Tries to criminalize transgender students and have their parents investigated for child abuse.
Provides as many guns as criminals can carry away.
Politicizing education, (which they're against anyway, but what they're always complaining about are efforts to de-politicize education).
Think laws should be voluntary if you're a white male Republican.
Tries to cause as much disease as possible while eliminating health care.
Pro-rape, pro-slavery, pro-dictatorship.
Deep thinkers include Kid Rock and Ted Nugent.
They exist only to blame people with different skin colors and/or external genitalia for all the problems that they cause.
In times like this, or really anytime at all, Republicans all rally round the president if he's from their party. They go on TV to say what a great job he's doing, what great leadership he's showing, etc. If Dems would do this it would really be great. I know this was KDs post from yesterday but I just can't stop thinking about it. Joe Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan was nothing short of masterful and yet no one on the left or center left can ever say this. They have to say it was a disaster because there were some chaotic images for a few hours and one successful terrorist attack. This in one of the most complex and dangerous operations the US military has attempted in the past 50 years.
The same can be said for his handling of Ukraine. He's got Putin isolated, and the whole world behind Ukraine. We can't put boots on the ground and no president would even attempt that. No president of the US could possibly be handling this situation better and yet no one prominent is even saying this.
> they could easily have done that even if they had stayed sane and constructive
But could they have? Sane and constructive would increase research spending on climate change and infrastructure. Sane and constructive would increase the minimum wage. Sane and Constructive is stating that abortion is a private family health decision and vaccination isn't.
The best one could hope for is acknowledging the truth: "We're selfish, don't want to cooperate, and don't want to spend money on anything." But that just accounts for the few libertarians that vote Republican. The rest of them are all caught up confessing to believe that there's an invisible white man (which is both one and three individuals) who will forgive their immorality if they say they believe in contradictions.
I think that's the real problem here. The existence of huge cults that actively teach people to believe certain authorities, avoid reason and logic, and parrot nonsense to show their allegiance to the cult.
Republicans basically want two things from government: protection for private property rights and preservation of the status quo of privilege. Some Republicans prioritize one thing, some the other, but the objectives are not really separable. Both factions see widely participatory democracy and activist government as a threat to their interests, and will oppose both of those things as far as they possibly can.
They want government to provide cossacks to abuse the peasantry and nothing else.
The evidence is otherwise. Although most self-described ‘evangelicals’ support Trump and Republicans, political fervor correlates negatively with religiosity. Also, many Trumpublicans are neither libertarians nor evangelicals.
"....what good the Republican Party is these days."
Depends on how persuasive you find "They hate the same people I hate".
Yep. For about 45% of the country, give or take, that's all they need. I believe you once put it terms of people living in an underpass roasting sparrows on a curtain rod...
That's a nice list, but it has no relation to why people vote for Republicans. The Republican voters' list of achievements would include:
1) Pissed off my smart-mouth brother in law who thinks he knows everything.
2) Stood up for white people.
3) Stood up for Christians.
4) Made black people angry.
5) I'm not sure of the exact facts, but everything I hear on the news says Democrats are bad.
It was all too obvious in the last election when the Republican party ran on an official platform of having no platform. Instead, they stood for whatever tfg stood for. Tfg is mercurial, inconsistent, and totally lacking in any fundamental values beyond self-interest, so that anything put in writing might have to be taken back when he changed his mind.
'Teh Freedom Golem'?
With Manafort changing the GOP platform against Ukraine in 2016, was there any change in the 2020 platform or was it rubber stamped as well?
The 2016 Republican Platform blamed all evil on the incumbent President.
The 2020 Republican Platform said "no changes".
Thought as much, thanks.
Marjorie Taylor Greene warns that Democrats are trying to create happiness,
https://www.rawstory.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-happiness/
How about the big one:
* Actively sabotaged any effort to address climate change by filing lawsuits against Federal climate policies and relentlessly reframing such policies as attempts to weaken American energy independence and undermine economic prosperity.
Tried to extort Ukraine in return for military aid. ..... That was all about a favor being asked on our behalf, though.
Precipitated anti-mask/vaccine fervor, resulting in tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths..... Give me liberty or give me death?
Supports the 1/6 insurrection¹ and continues to support Trump's big lie about Democrats stealing the vote..... Just a legitimate political dialogue, don't you know?
Supports efforts to allow red state legislatures to overturn popular presidential vote..... You gotta fight any suspicion of voter fraud with clear cut voter fraud.
Actively appeals to white fear of teaching about Black history in schools..... It's all about students not being made to feel discomfort in the class room.
Has cut taxes on millionaires and quietly raised them on the middle class via tariffs..... As long as voters vote for these tax policies, pundits should keep mum.
That’s the Republican record and still many 10s of millions of people will vote for them. I’m not sure I give a crap about them. No… I’m sure I don’t. Why should I lift a finger to help them?
People who look at that record and still think democrats are worse are simply not worth any consideration.
As far as I can tell, the Republicans want to sell our parks and military to private business. Also to terminate Medicare and Social Security. Seems like bad ideas to me:
“Socialism is un-American and always leads to poverty
and oppression. We will stop it. We will shrink the federal government, reduce the government work force by 25% in 5 years, sell government buildings and assets, and get rid of the old, slow, closed, top-down, government-run-everything system we have today.”
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000017f-1cf5-d281-a7ff-3ffd5f4a0000
"¹They didn't at first, but they nearly unanimously do now."
Hard to say nearly unanimously when the Republican Senate leader is saying things like:
""It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election from one administration to the next," McConnell said last week."